EA Sports College Football 25 continues to drop little bread crumbs for fans before the July 19 release of the game. This week, it’s ratings for the top 100 players featured in the game were made public, creating quite a stir as there were plenty of high-profile snubs and omissions throughout.
With no quarterbacks in the top 15, and only three players from a Group of Five conference in the top 50, which players were disrespected in EA Sports College Football 25 ratings?
The Most Disrespected Players in EA Sports College Football 25 Ratings
5) The Group of Five
Now, the rest of this list will be individual players, but it shouldn’t go unrecognized that only six players from a Group of Five program are in the top 100:
37) Clay Webb, OL, Jacksonville State
44) Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State
45) Tory Horton, WR, Colorado State
50) Jason Henderson, LB, ODU
90) Kaidon Salter, QB, Liberty
100) Quinton Cooley, RB, Liberty
Salter (2,876 passing yards last year) was the only Group of Five QB in the top 100 with snubs for Memphis’ Seth Henigan, USF’s Bryum Brown, Appalachian State’s Joey Aguilar, Texas State’s Jordan McCloud, and WKU QB T.J. Finley. All five eclipsed 3,000 yards passing last year, with Henigan doing so in each of the last three seasons, combining for 10,366 yards and 77 TDs.
4) Caullin Lacy, WR, Louisville
There were nine WRs listed in the top 100 of EA Sports College Football 25’s player ratings, but Louisville’s Caullin Lacy wasn’t one of them despite finishing seventh in the country last year in receiving yards with 1,316 and eighth in receptions with 91.
After four seasons and 207 career catches at South Alabama, the fifth-year senior from Mobile joined Jeff Brohm and the Louisville Cardinals this offseason for his final season of eligibility.
3) D.J. Giddens, RB, Kansas State
14 running backs were listed in the top 100 for the EA Sports College Football 25 player ratings, but Kansas State battering ram D.J. Giddens didn’t crack the list despite outplaying others who did.
In his second year and first as the full-time starter, Giddens played in every game for the Wildcats in 2023 as a sophomore, racking up 1,226 yards and 10 scores on the ground, while catching another 29 passes for 323 yards and three touchdowns.
Along with his electric QB, Avery Johnson, Giddens makes the Kansas State rushing attack one of the most feared in the nation. His omission from the top 100 is downright disrespectful.
2) Zachariah Branch, WR/KR/PR, USC
In his first year out of high school, Zachariah Branch earned First Team All-American honors as a return specialist, scoring at least once in four different phases — two receiving, one rushing, one punt return, and one kickoff return.
On 16 punt returns, he averaged 20.8 yards per return, leading the nation among players with at least two returns. He also added 31 catches for 320 yards on offense. How an All-American as a true freshman doesn’t even make the top 100 rated players list is an outrage, but that is the case for Branch.
1) Cameron Ward, QB, Miami (FL)
The most disrespected of all the top 100 omissions has to be the Hurricanes’ newest signal caller, Cameron Ward.
He didn’t make it in the top 100 despite two sensational seasons at Washington State where he started 25 games, combining for 6,968 passing yards, 48 TDs to 16 INTs, with another 202 yards and 13 scores on the ground.
Now a seasoned senior in new surroundings, Ward joined Mario Cristobal in Miami for his final season, but he’ll at least start that campaign outside the top 100 of College Football 25’s player ratings.
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